Study shows environmental income critical for rural livelihoods, challenges assumptions about how poor use forest resources An employee of MESCOT, a community-run reforestation, conservation, and alternative livelihoods initiative in Malaysian…
Acacia harvesting and rainforest in Sumatra. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Flaws in the country’s system to verify legal wood products could have implications for trade with Europe, as new…
Papuan man in Indonesian New Guinea. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. A UN program to reduce global carbon emissions may be putting indigenous communities at risk, jeopardizing local land rights…
Deforestation for palm oil in Malaysia Indigenous and forest-dependent peoples from Asia, Africa and Latin America have called for increased recognition of customary land rights in order to curb deforestation…
Acacia plantation in Riau Province, Indonesia. The former governor of Indonesia’s Riau province has been sentenced to 14 years in prison and ordered to pay almost $90,000 in fines for…
Baby orangutans, like this Sumatran orangutan on its mother's back, are often kept illegally in Indonesia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Indonesia’s Islamic clerics drew praise from conservation groups last…
A new report explores innovative steps being taken by several of the industry’s largest firms to improve social and environmental practices Oil palm plantation in Riau. Photo by: Rhett A.…
Newly approved forest conversion plans in Aceh, where the attacks took place, would reduce elephant habitat even further in the province where conflicts with the species are already widespread Sumatran…
Police in Indonesia’s Aceh province have arrested two wildlife trafficking suspects allegedly behind five tiger poaching rings operating in the forests of northern Sumatra. The arrests followed a months-long investigation…
APRIL partner accused of clearing forests and felling endangered tropical hardwoods. Indonesian NGO says the wood supplier is linked to corruption and its legal timber certificate should be revoked Logging…
Foto: Feri Irawan Nearly 150 homes were reportedly destroyed in the latest incident in a long-standing conflict between indigenous Batin Sembilan residents and former Wilmar unit PT Asiatic Persada. Indonesian…
Multiple allegations have been made against the Indonesian palm oil producer for setting up illegal plantations, violating its own commitments to stop clearing forests and misrepresenting its membership in the…
Indonesia’s flag carrier won't transport shark fins any more Indonesia’s national carrier Garuda Indonesia has joined a growing number of airlines looking to curb the international shark fin trade by…
Labor unions demand seat at the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil Protester at the palm oil meeting in Medan, Indonesia. Photo: Ayat S Karokaro Protesters from 10 Indonesian labor unions…
Some of the largest palm oil companies are clearing forests and peatlands without seeking consent of local communities, leading to a spate of unresolved conflicts in plantation concessions around the…
A plan for a coal transport road continues to threaten a project to restore one of the last remaining lowland forests in Sumatra. The status of the permit for the…
A military court in Indonesia’s Aceh province has jailed two soldiers for illegally possessing two stuffed Sumatran tigers (Pathera tigris sumatrae) and a stuffed sun bear (Helarctos malayanus), a rare…
Local groups have called on the governor of Jambi province to cancel PT Asiatic Persada’s permit after Wilmar’s sale of the company stalls IFC-mediated talks. Indigenous people in Indonesia’s Jambi…
Indonesia and the European Union signed a deal on Monday that aims to curb illegal logging by ending all trade in illegal wood products between Asia’s largest exporter of timber…
Activists have urged the Indonesian government to cancel or reassess plans to build a 148-kilometer coal railway in Indonesian Borneo, claiming the project will be an “ecological disaster” that will…
Land conflicts pose a serious – and often overlooked – risk to development projects in emerging market economies, warns a new report. Indigenous communities have claims to nearly one third…
Villagers in Indonesia’s Central Kalimantan province occupied a local government office last week, fed up with the government’s lack of action to resolve a long-running land dispute with palm oil…
Eight Indonesian villagers have sued the country’s president and a number of other high-level government officials over the impacts of climate change and environmental destruction in their province, reports Mongabay-Indonesia.…
Japanese companies are failing to keep illegally logged timber from entering their supply chains, international human rights and environmental watchdog Global Witness said in a report released today. The report…
MIFEE project site in Papua, Indonesian New Guinea. Map courtesy of Google Earth. Land grabs and environmental destruction linked to an agricultural megaproject in Indonesia’s Papua province are devastating indigenous…
An indigenous peoples’ rights group has vowed to map millions of hectares of customary land in Indonesia, an ambitious target it hopes will help protect indigenous forests from encroachment by…
Police in Indonesia’s Aceh province are investigating the killings of three critically endangered Sumatran elephants, as conflicts with humans led to a series of elephant deaths across the province last…
Labora Sitorus, a former police officer accused of running a nearly $150 million illegal logging ring in Indonesian New Guinea, faces charges of money laundering, illegal logging and fuel smuggling,…
Four villagers were injured and several vehicles destroyed in a clash between local residents and palm oil company guards in Indonesian Borneo last week. The clash is the latest incident…